I ran past my United States Congressman the other day.
It’s true. I was running in one direction on the Montour Trail and my duly elected representative in Congress, otherwise known as Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa, was running in the opposite direction. He smiled and half-nodded as he passed, which I interpreted as an elected official’s acknowledgement that he was possibly in the presence of registered voters.
“Did you see who that was?” I asked my husband, who was running beside me and our dog, Sparky.
“Yeah,” he said with typical equanimity. I don’t think his response would have been much different if Hilary Clinton or Queen Elizabeth had just jogged past us.
It didn’t seem like a big deal to my husband, but it was to me because I missed my chance to stop my Congressman on the trail, peer at him eyeball to eyeball, and ask some questions that have been bothering me, like…
WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON IN CONGRESS? WHY DOES IT FEEL LIKE LEGISLATORS HAVE NO INTEREST IN LEGISLATING ANYMORE? WHY DO CONGRESSMEN FIGHT, ARGUE, AND REFUSE TO LISTEN TO OR COOPERATE WITH EACH OTHER? WHAT IS GOING ON IN YOUR REPUBLICAN PARTY? HOW CAN A TINY MINORITY OF EXTREMELY STUBBORN CONGRESSMEN HOLD ENOUGH POWER TO SHUT DOWN THE WHOLE COUNTRY? CAN YOU SERIOUSLY ENVISION DONALD TRUMP AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES? CAN YOU BLAME ME FOR BEING EMBARRASSED? DO YOU REMEMBER THAT REPORT THAT SAID AMERICANS HAD A HIGHER OPINION OF WITCHES, HEMORROIDS AND JURY DUTY THAN CONGRESS? HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL? AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO CHANGE THAT? PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU ARE DOING FOR THE COMMON GOOD OF THE COUNTRY BECAUSE I NEED JUST ONE, GOOD REASON TO VOTE FOR YOU AGAIN, WHICH, BY THE WAY, I HAVEN’T ALWAYS DONE IN THE HISTORY OF YOUR POLITICAL CAREER. SINCE WE’RE BOTH HERE RUNNING ON THE MONTOUR TRAIL THIS MORNING, I WANT TO BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE DIFFERENT AND BETTER THAN ALL THE OTHER BICKERING INTRANGISENTS IN CONGRESS. I WANT TO BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE RESPOSIBLE ENOUGH TO RISE ABOVE THE UGLY POLITICS OF THE DAY TO DO THE JOB YOU WERE ELECTED TO DO WITH HONESTY AND INTEGRITY. CONGRESSMAN MURPHY, PLEASE THROW ME A BONE.
Yep. I missed my chance. Now Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa, will never know the pressing questions I wanted to ask him. He’ll never know that while he was enjoying a morning run on the Montour Trail, he was almost accosted by a wild-eyed constituent, whose brain was a little too slow to make the most of the situation.
The only one who got something out of this encounter was Sparky, because a little bit later when we got home, I think my husband threw him a bone.
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